The main economic objective of the THERMOFIP project is to put its members in a privileged position for competing in the automotive cooling and oil system market. Due to the general desire to reduce CO2 emissions and the resulting changes in engine architecture, this market has seen incredible growth recently.
In particular, the market for active components such as actuators and valves is expected to triple by 2025 (compared to 2018), creating huge opportunities for both parts manufacturers and plastics suppliers. In this market environment, being able to rely on an enhanced predictive simulation technology can be an important lever for gaining market shares.
When calculating the final mechanical properties of a part made of glass fiber-reinforced polyamide resin, integrative simulation offers the advantage of also taking the forming process into account. This opens new possibilities for parts optimization. The project’s goal was to achieve a significant weight reduction of around 20% for the targeted parts. To unlock the full potential of parts optimization, it is crucial to simulate the effects of aging on reinforced polyamides. Among the various factors contributing to time-related degradation of part performance, one of the most critical is contact with mixtures of water and ethylene glycol. This aspect is just as important for material suppliers as it is for the companies designing the parts and the carmakers using them.
THERMOFIP has been focusing on this specific topic. The ultimate goal of the project is to simulate how coolants influence the progressive embrittlement of materials, in order to find new ways of making even lighter parts.
The results, set to be unveiled by the end of this year, will be a game changer for carmakers by establishing:
- An assessment of polymer degradation levels in end-of-life parts.
- A prototype simulation chain capable of computing the local degradation in parts exposed to coolant.
- Models enabling the prediction of material degradation levels caused by aging and heat, which can then be used to predict the mechanical performance of coolant-exposed polymers.
- A database on aged parts allowing validation of the numerical developments and models obtained at specimen level.
- A platform for the industrialization of a simulation chain capable of computing the progressive impact of aging on the mechanical performance of parts.
